The Senate race in the swing state of Florida has taken on some interesting twists, and this appointment represents yet another turn. Mr. Crist, a Republican, is waging a primary fight with conservative Marco Rubio, the former Florida House speaker, for his party’s nomination to the Martinez seat. Mr. LeMieux, 40, a close Crist ally, obviously would fill the seat as a placeholder until the election in November 2010.

The Buzz, the politics blog of The St. Pete Times, offered up this scene in Tallahassee as the governor appeared to make his announcement:

Gov. Charlie Crist entered the hushed Senate chambers of the Old Capitol at 11:36 a.m. to introduce his longtime confidante George LeMieux as Florida’s new junior U.S. senator. The room erupted in a standing ovation as the pair reached the front of the room. “Are you surprised?” Crist asked as he walked past.

The governor called Mr. LeMieux a great public servant who had even argued a case before the Supreme Court. But others quickly questioned whether Mr. LeMieux’s private sector work — including seeking an expansion of the gaming industry — would come under additional scrutiny now that he will assume public office for the first time in his career. (Marc Caputo at The Buzz/Naked Politics blogs cited some of the “consulting work” Mr. LeMieux has been doing in this post. )

The Miami Herald’s Beth Reinhard forecast the appointment in today’s paper, describing the linkage between Governor Crist and Mr. LeMieux as well as their twinning up for the Senate race:

What’s more, the clean-cut, well-spoken, 40-year-old LeMieux could serve as an effective surrogate for Crist on the campaign trail. LeMieux was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale and served as chairman of the Broward Republican Party from 2000 to 2002.

The two men have been in lockstep since 2002, when Crist was elected state attorney general and made LeMieux his deputy. LeMieux went on to earn the nickname, “the maestro” for orchestrating Crist’s successful gubernatorial campaign and served as his right-hand-man for one year. Even after he left the Capitol for the Gunster Yoakley & Stewart law firm, LeMieux remained one of Crist’s most trusted confidantes.

In a sign of how fast LeMieux’s star has risen, he beat out former U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw — his former boss during a college internship — for the Senate post.

In a statement released on Friday, Mr. Martinez said: “I congratulate George LeMieux for being appointed by the governor to fill the remainder of my term. George is bright, capable, and an accomplished administrator. My staff and I stand ready to ensure a smooth transition.”

Mr. Martinez had indicated that he would step down as soon as the governor named a replacement. His decision to quit even before his term had expired caught some by surprise; the senator had already indicated he would not seek another term. He said he was suffering no health or other problems.

The top Democrat seeking the Senate seat is Representative Kendrick B. Meek. The state’s other senator is Bill Nelson, a Democrat.

Karen Thurman, the state’s Democratic party chairwoman, criticized the choice in a statement released on Friday: “This glaring example of political cronyism is the last thing Florida needed while we face these tough economic times and the Congress is tackling critical issues such as health insurance reform and global warming. In appointing LeMieux, someone who has made millions over the past several years selling access to Crist to the highest bidders among Tallahassee’s special interests, Charlie Crist once again put his own political ambition above doing what is right for Florida.”

The Miami Herald also outlined some of the questions surrounding Mr. LeMieux’s work at the law firm of Gunster Yoakley, and new information available on the forms he filed in seeking this Senate appointment:

While LeMieux has steadily avoided discussing the clients he represented at Gunster Yoakley, he had to disclose on a Senate questionnaire last week that he had a consulting business, MTC Strategies, named after each initial of his three boys. Federal election records show he earned $150,000 in consulting fees in the past 13 months from the Republican Party of Florida.

LeMieux wouldn’t discuss what he did to earn that money.

LeMieux said he’s representing the Florida Department of Transportation in negotiations with Florida East Coast railroad and he’s negotiating the Seminole Tribe of Florida gambling agreement on Crist’s behalf for free.

But Republican operative Roger Stone, who has campaigned publicly against the choice of LeMieux for the Senate, questioned whether LeMieux was really working pro bono. Stone pointed to a Herald/Times blog report showing that 71 percent of the $912,000 the Seminoles directly gave to the Republican Party since 1996 was donated since Crist took over party fundraising after he won the 2006 Republican governor’s race primary.

“The pattern of giving and the flow of money to LeMieux are deeply concerning,” said Stone, who has done political work for South Florida pari-mutuels opposed to the Seminole compact. “I don’t see how you can be an objective negotiator with the tribe when it appears as if he was paid by the Seminoles using RPOF as a pass through.”

An analysis of Crist’s Senate campaign documents shows Gunster Yoakley and its clients accounted for $142,250 in contributions.

A few added notes, in thinking about the implications for the fall Senate deliberations. Health care looms in a major way in the Senate, and Florida’s sizable elderly population — a bloc that is warily and uneasily eying any changes in Medicare or other health initiatives — will weigh heavily on both senators’ minds.

On financial issues, the governor came under heavy fire for his support of President Obama’s stimulus package, and conservatives like Mr. Rubio continue to mine that position for votes. (Especially since Republican lawmakers in Congress overwhelmingly opposed it.) How Mr. LeMieux tacks on newer financial proposals, like tighter regulations of the financial services industries, or on other proposals that could be construed as a tax, will likely wash heavily over onto Mr. Crist’s candidacy, given how closely the two are linked.

Also, if and when immigration stirs in the Senate, Florida’s own version of the melting pot may closely scrutinize the appointed senator’s positions. Senator Martinez, a Cuban-American with a heartfelt immigrant’s story through a Catholic orphanage program, was a stalwart supporter of reforms in past years. He broke from the Republican ranks to support Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Supreme Court as well.

And the I-4 corridor voting bloc, with its shifting demographics, may demand more and more of Republicans wishing to court its approval. Governor Crist’s decision to not appoint another Latino to Mr. Martinez’ seat — with his primary opponent Mr. Rubio himself a Cuban-American — also may not sit well among some ethnic voters. That said, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note that the Cuban/Latino/Puerto Rican/Haitian and other minority constituencies in the Sunshine State are hardly monolithic in their voting patterns.

Another Update: Whether Mr. LeMieux will inherit Senator Martinez’ committee assignments remains up to a conference vote of the Republican minority when it returns for its policy meetings in September. Those seats include posts on committees like Armed Services, Banking and Commerce. Mr. LeMieux becomes the most junior Republican senator, so perhaps others elected in the 2008 cycle may claim or wish to vie for those seats before him. Mr. Martinez also served as the ranking member on the Select Committee on Aging, a likely spot for a Floridian senator.

No Republican can cry now if Massachusetts changes its laws and places a Democrat in Ted Kennedy’s former seat! From Martinez bowing out to Crist installing a crony of the highest order to hold a place for him while he revves up his campaign, this is as rigged a political seat as anything the Massachusetts Dems could gin up!

Governor Crist is running a huge gamble, but Mel Martinez left him little choice. Historically citizens have not been kind to governors who are percieved as manipulating their power of appointment to the Senate to engineer their own selection. I don’t know what he could have done differently. His interest in the seat is legitimate and the selection of someone interested in running for the full term would have been disasterous for his chances.

If Mr. LeMieux took the seat after agreeing to forgo re-election in 2010, then he is already a lame duck. Under the precedent set by Ms. Palin, he should now resign to avoid the negative effects of that status on the voters of Florida.

This is an example of the problem with allowing Governors to appoint persons to fill open terms of senators or representatives. Massachusetts should not change its current rules: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” There is a strong argument for having special elections and allowing the people to decide who should represent them in governing bodies.

Unlike Massachusetts, Florida has an exiting law that allows the Governor to fill a Senate vacancy. For Massachusetts to change its law after a vacancy has occurred and the statue set in motion is to deprive the citizens of Massachusetts due process in having their votes recognized. Any attempt to change the Massachusetts law would undoubtedly end up in the Supreme Court.

Governor Crist simply extends Florida’s very long record for placing corrupt and unqualified leaders in office at the local, state and national levels. The gambling industry will no doubt use their new hired hand to approve or sponsor changes in gaming regulations and tax breaks used by the ultra-wealthy. It is a shame that a state that is so populous gets served so poorly by their elected officials. The lack of activism among Floridians is certainly a contributor to this issue. Florida has a very low percentage of registered voters compared to total state population. Not enough people care about their government and everyone suffers as a result.

The difference is that under the proposal in Massachusetts the Governor would appoint a temporary placeholder until a special election to be held within a specified period. This way, the voters of Massachusetts have full representation during the interim, but they ultimately get to select both of their senators. It seems like a reasonable solution.

Unbelievable! Another example of Charlie Crist’s continual positioning himself for yet another political office. He’s had some many political offices in the last decade it’s mind numbing. What record does he truly have? He prepares an ambitious outline for office but just never seems to complete what he sets out to accomplish before moving on to his next position. To put a crony of his in the place of Martinez is politically shrewd but shameful to the citizens of Florida. Due to the work of Crist and his Republican allies in the state legislature the state of Florida is reeling in the current economic situation with no signs of improving for probably 2 years out. High unemployment, a large percentage of citizens without health insurance, property values among the worst in the nation, property insurance in shambles, and the gambling lobby taking over through the Seminole tribes deals with Crist and LeMieux. How the citizens of Florida don’t see it for what it is amazing as they seem to keep “Charlie” high in the polls. Shocking, shameful…Florida’s reputation will continue to live on. LeMieux and Crist will assure that! Thank God for Bill Nelson as our real U.S. Senator.

Kendrick Meek will be an outstanding Senator from the state of Florida.

— John

I would beg to differ. For a man that represents a major port city and claims to be environmentalist he signed on as a cosponser on H.R. 2355: MOVEMENT Act of 2009 which will raise the Harbor Maintenance Tax by 4 which is fine by it self except for the fact that he refuses to do away with that tax on Jones Act shipping (US Flagged vessels carring cargo between US Ports) which kills US Short Sea Shipping the most efficient way to move cargo in the US. The US moves onlyt 2 percent of its domestic freight by ship. In contrast, the European Union moves almost 40% by water. One heavy truck carrying 25 tons of freight consumes 370 percent more fuel per ton than a tug and barge carrying 1,750 tons of freight. A heavy truck will generate 230 percent more carbon dioxide (in grams per ton-kilometer) than a ship that transports as much as 8000 tons.
So in the end US Short sea shipping is good for the environment, good for the consumer and creates US jobs.

Yes; this new story comes at a perfect time! There’s hardly a segue here, but why not try to use a legal appointment to justify an 11th hour flip/flop in Massachusetts law? I’m from New Jersey (I know, I know…) and the Dems did similar shenanigans in one of our recent elections so that Lautenburg could replace Torricelli as their Senate candidate. Good grief!

Gov. Crist’s nomination looks like good political strategy, if not a little transparent. It’s obvious that he wants the seat held by an ally long enough to run for a term in it himself. Nothing illegal about it, but it seems like a bit of a power grab to me. Good thing for him, I don’t live in Florida…not that I would have voted for Crist anyway.

Right now everthing the Neo Con Right Wing does and says seems like just another cheap ploy to gain power at any cost. Today on CNN Rick Sanchez played a tape where a Right Wing Church Pastor prayed for the death of our President.This false Pastor Steven Anderson must be a type of AntiChrist to preach such vile hatred from the pulpit of a supposedly Christian Church. What kind of a Christian would sit and listen to this racist violent garbage. If the ‘Faithfull Word Baptist Chuch’ is part of an association of Baptist Chuches then this Pastor should be defrocked and the Church suspended. With all of the lies and hatred I have heard since the election of President Obama. I feel as though I am living in Germany just prior to Hitler and the Nazis takeover. They also used race hatred and lies to seize power. I am a lifelong Republican White Male Church going Christian. But right now the Republicans I see on Fox News and so called Christians like Anderson make me truly fear for our future.

Steve wrote:
“If Mr. LeMieux took the seat after agreeing to forgo re-election in 2010, then he is already a lame duck. Under the precedent set by Ms. Palin, he should now resign to avoid the negative effects of that status on the voters of Florida.”

Yes. Then his followers can work themselves into a fever, crow about his brilliant strategy to capture the presidency in 2012, and swear they will have no one else and threaten to “take back their country” by force of arms if things don’t work out the way they would like.

Teddy was a statesman and a gentleman …Obama is, in my opinion, a liar and an incompetent, there is a big difference. Obama’s nonsense is going to cost the Democratic party big in the upcoming elections.

Hey Democrats, At least Crist did not auction off the Senate seat the way Illinois Democrat governor Blagoyevich did with Obama’s Senate seat. Sen. Burris (D-IL) promised to raise funds for Blago in exchange for the US Senate seat, yet he is still there in Washington.

And at the least the Florida Republicans are not rewriting the rules- after the fact- to their advantage the way the Democrats in Massachusetts are. In Mass, the Dems changed the rules back in 2004 when they feared a GOP Guv might get to make an appointment- so they switched it to special election. Today, Mass has a Dem Guv and the Dems fear maybe, just maybe they could lose the Special Election so they are trying to switch the law- after Teddys’ death- back to the Guv appointment. Now that is a foul smelling deal.

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